will take vengeance of any neglect or violation of this duty, either in this world, or in the other.

Commutative justice, as it is described in the former discourse, is built upon this foundation, that one man has need of another's assistance: Nor is there any the meanest figure amongst mankind so very worthless, useless and contemptible, but he may be capable of doing us some service either now or hereafter. It is possible we may be in such circumstances, as to stand in need of the help of the meanest, as well as of the mighty; and therefore the duty of social life obliges us to practise the rules of justice toward all. The rich stand in need of the poor to perform the meaner offices for their convenience, as much as the poor stand in need of the rich to supply them with food or money. The master has need of the servant to assist and obey him, as well as the servant stands in need of maintenance or wages from the hands of the master. One man can never procure for himself all the necessaries, and all the conveniencies of life; it is indeed impossible. The same man cannot sow his own corn, reap his own harvest, keep his own sheep, make his own bread, form all his own garments, build his own house, fashion his own furniture, and secure his own possessions: No man can provide for himself in all respects, without the assistance of his fellow-creatures. Now, those from whom he expects to receive help in any of these instances, it is necessary he should give them help in other instances, wherein they stand in need of his. This is one foundation of justice between man and man; that so every man may have the necessaries and conveniencies of life by his neighbour's assistance. Thus the king himself (as Solomon says), is served by the field, Eccl. v. 9. The prince stands in need of the plowman: The plowman gives food to the prince, and the prince gives to the plowman protection and safety.

I might run through the various instances where

in justice is to be practised, and shew how the higher and lower orders and characters of men have mu tual need of each other: The buyer and the seller, the artificer and the merchant, the teacher and the scholar; and thus I might make it appear, that unless a due exchange of benefits be maintained, and the practice of justice secured, none of us could enjoy the safety, the ease or the conveniencies of life.

Where there is no practice of justice amongst men, no man can live safe by his neighbour: Every one that is mighty and malicicus, that is proud or covetous, that is envious or knavish, would rob another of his due, and either assume the possessions of his neighbour to himself, or make havoc of them, and destroy them. There would be everlasting confusion amongst men, slander and theft, cheating and knavery; plunder and slaughter, and bloody violence would reign among all the tribes of mankind, if justice were banished from the earth: for neither life, nor liberty, nor peace, nor any of our possessions, nor our good name, can be secured without it. Therefore the light and law of nature sets a sacred guard upon justice, and has written the necessity of it in the consciences of all men, who have not seared those consciences as with a red-hot iron, and rased out so much of human nature from their souls.

The practice of justice has so extensive an influence into the whole conduct of our lives, and the welfare of mankind, that some of the heathen writers have made it to be comprehensive of all virtues.

But because sinful men are ready to break the bonds of commutative justice, and invade the property, the peace, or the life of their neighbours, therefore government is appointed, and magistrates are ordained to maintain peace and equity amongst men, and to punish the breakers of it. This is the greatest reason why there must be such a thing as magistracy and distributive justice amongst mankind; that those who commit outrage upon their neigh

bours, and practise injustice toward them, may be punished by the laws. For, as the apostle says to Timothy, the law is not made for the righteous, but "for the disobedient, for the ungodly, and for sinners; ' for murderers, stealers, and liars, &c.' that it may be a strong restraint upon the violent inclinations of men, and bring just vengeance upon them, when they bring injury upon their neighbours. Therefore it is for the welfare of the innocent and the righteous, that the laws have ordained vengeance for the guilty; that those who would not injure their fellow-creatures, may be guarded in the enjoyment of their own property and their peace, and may have them secured from the sons of injustice.

And besides all the punishment that such sinners justly receive from men on earth, God, the great Governor of the world, has often revealed his ' wrath from heaven against all the unrighteousness of men, as well as their ungodliness.' He has hereby proclaimed his public approbation of justice, and his hatred of all iniquity. His terrors have sometimes appeared in signal and severe instances against those who have been notoriously unrighteous, and who have broken all the rules of equity in the treatment of their fellow-creatures. This the heathens themselves have taken notice of. And they thought this to be so necessary for the government of the world, that their priests have invented a sort of goddess, called Nemesis, whose office is to avenge the practice of fraud or violence, and to bring down curses on the head of this kind of criminals.

As the ancient records of the heathen world give us some histories of divine vengeance, so the Bible abounds with more awful and illustrious instances of this kind; which leads me to

The fourth head of my discourse; and that is, to consider, What forcible arguments and motives the Christian religion affords for the practice of justice among men.

If I were to speak of distributive justice, or that which belongs to the practice of the magistrate; never was it more gloriously manifest, than in and by God the Father, when he refused to pass by our iniquities without punishment, and laid the dreadful weight of it upon the head and soul of his own Son. Never could magistracy receive such a glory, as when our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hung and died upon the cross, suffering the penalty that the law of God, the Supreme Magistrate had denounced against sinners."

And as punishing justice was glorified in all its terrors, so rewarding justice also appeared most illustrious. Because our Lord Jesus Christ had fulfilled obedience, not only to the broken law which we lay under, but to those peculiar laws which God the Father also gave him as a Mediator, therefore it pleased God highly to advance him, according to his own eternal covenant. God rewarded him, as a magistrate, distributing justice to a person who had done the greatest things for the honour of his sovereign: 'He exalted him at his own right hand, and gave him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow;' for he deserved it at the hands of his Father, and his Father distributed rewards equal to his desert.

Rewarding justice again appears glorious, in that God the Father communicates to us the rewards of the sufferings of his own Son. God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, because the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, has paid for all our follies and unrighteousness, 1 John i. 9. Faithful and just to his Son, that he may not go without the rewards of his sufferings: Faithful and just to us, because it was in our name and stead that the Son suffered.

But not to insist upon this longer, commutative justice is abundantly enforced also by many considerations drawn from the books of the Old Testament, as well as from the gospel of Christ.

If we consult the moral statutes of God, which were given to the Jews, we shall find them full of righteousness. These statutes are of everlasting force, and their divine solemnity should impress our consciences. That which is altogether just shalt thou fol"low, that thou mayest live and inherit the land: And the judges and officers shall judge the people with righteous judgment, and shall shew no respect of persons, nor take a gift to pervert justice,' Deut. xvi. 18, 19, 20. Ye shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one anoher. Thou shalt not defraud thy neigh'bour, nor rob him. The wages of him that is hired 'shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in weight, 'or in measure. Just balances and just weights shall ye ‹ have; I am the Lord your God,' Lev. xix. 12, &c. "A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight,' Prov. xi. 1. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sa'crifice,' Prov. iii. 15. Wo to him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; 'who uses his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work,' Jer. xxii. 13. Remove 'not the ancient land-marks, nor enter into the field of 'the fatherless; for their Redeemer is mighty, and he 'shall plead their cause with thee,' Prov. xxiii. 10, 11.

If we review the records of the Jewish history, we shall find the cruel and the covetous, the tyrant and the oppressor, made terrible examples of the vengeance of God against unrighteousness. Survey the plagues of Egypt, and the dreadful desolations of that fruitful country, with the destruction of the first-born by the midnight pestilence, and the armies of Pharaoh drowned in the Red-sea, and you may read there the wrath of God against the unrighteousness of men, written in dreadful characters. They treated. the race of Israel with cruelty and sore oppression; they destroyed their male children, and provoked God to bring swift destruction upon themselves.